Sabalenka beats Bucsa at Brisbane, Keys opens exit door for Kessler; Venus eclipsed

The Battle of the Sexes exhibition was a bit of fun for Aryna Sabalenka and a showdown she regarded as good preparation for the Australian Open.

In her first match since playing Nick Kyrgios in Dubai last month, No. 1-ranked Sabalenka overwhelmed No. 50 Cristina Bucsa 6-0, 6-1 on Tuesday to start her title defense at the Brisbane International.

The aim was to lay down a marker ahead of a potential quarterfinal against Madison Keys, who beat Cartney Kessler 6-4, 6-3.

The exhibition attracted some criticism but also, at least as far as Sabalenka was concerned, a lot of positive attention.

“It was fun. It was a great challenge. I think we brought so many eyes on tennis,” she said.

Sabalenka’s focus now is getting back onto a winning roll in Australia. She won back-to-back Australian Opens in 2023 and ‘24 and was on a 20-match winning streak at Melbourne Park until a loss in last year’s final to Keys.

It wasn’t so great for the often-injured Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist and former Brisbane International winner who lost to No. 58 Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 6-4 in his first ATP match since March.

He’s been restricted to just six matches in the last three years because of knee and wrist surgeries.

The mercurial Australian has been playing exhibitions in an effort to get back into touch and if he doesn’t get a wild card for the Australian Open he’s planning on entering qualifying.

It was a day for fit-again players returning to court.

Grigor Dimitrov beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-2 in his first match since October and just the second since Wimbledon where he had to retire with a pectoral injury while leading Jannik Sinner by two sets in the fourth round.

Fourth-seeded Tommy Paul was beaten 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (6) by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in his first match since the US Open in August. Mpetshi Perricard’s serve was typically big and he fired 24 aces.

Other seeds losing were Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 7-6 (4), 6-4 to Brandon Nakashima, and fifth-seeded Denis Shapovalov, 6-4, 6-2 by Raphael Collignon. Seventh-seeded Cameron Norrie saved three match points in the second-set tiebreak in a 1-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5 win over Ugo Humbert.

For women’s No. 7 Keys, preparation for an attempted Australian Open title defense will go via Brisbane and then Adelaide, where she won last year to kickstart her run to a first Grand Slam title.

Meanwhile, Venus Williams has lost her first singles match of 2026 to fifth-seeded Magda Linette at the WTA Tour tournament in Auckland, New Zealand.

The 45-year-old Williams put up a superb show before losing 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to the No. 52-ranked Linette, who was only two years old when Williams played her first professional singles match.

Tuesday’s match was Williams’ 1,101st in singles on the WTA Tour. But the competitiveness she showed against a player 12 years her junior will give her confidence as she heads to Australia for the Hobart International and the Australian Open.

The seven-time major champion received wild-card entries into the Auckland tournament and also in Hobart from Jan. 12 and at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year at Melbourne Park.

The Auckland match was Williams’ first since she lost 6-3, 2-6, 5-1 to Karolina Muchova in the first round of the U.S. Open last August. She played only three tournaments in 2025, beating Peyton Stearns in July to become the second-oldest woman - behind Martina Navratilova - to win a match on the WTA Tour.

Williams appeared fit, moved freely, served seven aces and hit hard on both sides.

Williams, ranked No. 582 this week, has been a regular visitor to Auckland in the latter part of her career. She beat Caroline Wozniacki in the 2015 final for the 41st of her 46 WTA Tour titles. This year, she told reporters, she felt under no pressure.

Agencies